Dad sells son's Xmas Wii game on eBay for $9k

Online auction sparks 'right or wrong' debate

After catching his 15-year-old son smoking marijuana, a Canadian father sold the Guitar Hero III game he had bought him for Christmas on eBay, to teach him a lesson.

The popular game for the Wii, which is proving difficult to find pre-Christmas, fetched an incredible $9,100 (£4,522) on the auction website. It normally sells for $90 (£44.72) in the US.

The Holy Grail of Christmas presents

"I had finally got the Holy Grail of Xmas presents pretty much just in the nick of time. I couldn't wait to spread the jubilance to my son," the father said in a letter accompanying the posting on eBay, Reuters reports.

"Then, yesterday, I came home from work early and what do I find? My innocent little boy smoking pot in the backyard with two of his delinquent friends," he wrote, adding that he intended to teach his son a lesson he'd never forget.

His decision is now being debated online, with the five-day auction spawning more than a hundred comments. Was he right, or was he just "publicly humiliating" his son, as one commentator wrote on the auction listing page.

The son may still be in with a chance of a Christmas present, however. "I am still considering getting him a game for his Wii. Maybe something like Barbie ...," the father wrote.

It is unclear if the sale at that price actually proceeded, although the father insists the auction was real.